Conditions:Checkerboard Canyon-20250811235857

Latest:	9 Aug 2025 (1 month ago)

Reported by:	RFontaine (313 reports)
Quality:	Great
Waterflow:
Wetsuit:	None
Water temperature:
Difficulty:
Time:	2 days

Team: 3 people with experience level Intermediate to Advanced

Trip report URL:

Comments: A very neat big day canyon with tons of interesting features that get better the further you go! We did this canyon as a two day trip, camping in the Narrows.

Approach is long, full sun, fairly brushy in spots and can be hard to follow. We followed the KML map up and down the rolling bushy hills loosing the trail here and there. Right before the final drainage, we took some advice from others and stayed high out of the drainage, following the sparsely forested flats until above the first rap where we switchbacked down the loose scree. The drainage is fully of thorny plants and even doing this we still caught some of them near the end (albeit avoided most I believe).

Our approach was 6.25 miles and took us 4hr 45min at a leisurely pace, weighed down with our backpacking gear. It was quite hot, and honestly, a total grind.

First drop in is pretty nice but the canyon just gets better and better. Lots of slanted hallways cut at a 45. The dark narrows section was our favorite, definitely some top notch gorgeous slot in there!

We encountered very little water, just a few spots, no deeper than waist and not very cold. Happy to have not brought wetsuits.

The big canyon views near the end are pretty spectacular too! The final flute rappel is a very neat and unique feature!

The descent took us about 5hrs at a moderate pace.

We booked campsite 12 and it took us about 45mins to hike down the Narrows to reach it. Keep in mind, the campsite locations as shown on Gaia’s Topo Layer dont seem to be entirely accurate anymore FYI. This site is the closest to Big Spring, the only safe place to filter water nearby (as the park says…)

The temps were perfect for camping in the narrows! Very comfortable with minimal clothes on, hardly needed our sleeping bags.

Exit out the Narrows in the morning took us 3hr 15mins at a leisurely pace.

All condition reports

Date	Quality	Waterflow	Wetsuit	Difficulty	Time	Team	Reported by
9 Aug 2025	Great		None		2 days	3 people Intermediate to Advanced	RFontaine (313 reports)
Comment: A very neat big day canyon with tons of interesting features that get better the further you go! We did this canyon as a two day trip, camping in the Narrows. Approach is long, full sun, fairly brushy in spots and can be hard to follow. We followed the KML map up and down the rolling bushy hills loosing the trail here and there. Right before the final drainage, we took some advice from others and stayed high out of the drainage, following the sparsely forested flats until above the first rap where we switchbacked down the loose scree. The drainage is fully of thorny plants and even doing this we still caught some of them near the end (albeit avoided most I believe). Our approach was 6.25 miles and took us 4hr 45min at a leisurely pace, weighed down with our backpacking gear. It was quite hot, and honestly, a total grind. First drop in is pretty nice but the canyon just gets better and better. Lots of slanted hallways cut at a 45. The dark narrows section was our favorite, definitely some top notch gorgeous slot in there! We encountered very little water, just a few spots, no deeper than waist and not very cold. Happy to have not brought wetsuits. The big canyon views near the end are pretty spectacular too! The final flute rappel is a very neat and unique feature! The descent took us about 5hrs at a moderate pace. We booked campsite 12 and it took us about 45mins to hike down the Narrows to reach it. Keep in mind, the campsite locations as shown on Gaia’s Topo Layer dont seem to be entirely accurate anymore FYI. This site is the closest to Big Spring, the only safe place to filter water nearby (as the park says…) The temps were perfect for camping in the narrows! Very comfortable with minimal clothes on, hardly needed our sleeping bags. Exit out the Narrows in the morning took us 3hr 15mins at a leisurely pace.
27 Jun 2025	Amazing	Very Low	Thin wetsuit	Normal	11 hours	6 people Intermediate to Advanced	Jgifford22 (5 reports)
Comment: First time through this canyon for our group. Approach took 3 hours and 45 minutes (lost some time dropping down off the wrong side of Dakota Hill before realizing our mistake and backtracking). Really enjoyed the technical section with all the rappels, downclimbs and slides. Technical section took us about 4 hours. The Narrows were great, and we floated in our wetsuits anywhere water was deep enough. Amazing day in a new area of Zion for us.
20 Apr 2025	Great	Deep pools	Full wetsuit		15 hours	1 people Expert	Canyon Cartel (18 reports)
Comment: This canyon really surprised me. It offered a little bit of everything and it kept me interested. While I wouldn't consider it a huge technical challenge, it always seemed like it had the potential for it. I think that if it had more technical aspects in the lower section, it would have certainly been a 5 star canyon. The overall experience is what this canyon is about. There was still some snow in the lower section of the canyon. Only got waist deep in the middle section of canyon and then had mostly chest deep water with one or two short swims in the lower section. Upper section was dry. I started my approach from where North Fork meets Dakota Ridge. Added extra time but I didn't want to risk getting my vehicle stuck by myself. In hindsight, the 4x4 road was in good condition. A long day but a great one.
12 Oct 2024	Amazing	Deep pools	None	Normal	11 hours	3 people Advanced	Kirbside (98 reports)
Comment: Amazing day in Checkerboard! 3.5 hours on approach, 5 hours in the canyon including sandwiches on both ends and sticking a rope around R9ish and having to ascend (the ends were twisted strangely by the last rappeller). 2.5 hours from the Narrows to the Temple. We did not bring wetsuits. Slower parties would want them in our conditions. The last few rappels had pools, most are only knee to waist deep but one is swimming. This is even as the rest of Zion is at quite low water levels (Pine is in no-wetsuit conditions for some groups, Imlay is in hard mode).. On the approach I would stick to the ridges as much as possible. You can try following the use trails but they will often fizzle out. You could also ignore where the track has you enter the drainage and instead stay on the ridge DCR until R1 if you want. This would avoid a lot of tree and shrub in the wash before R1 (but use trails exist to make most of this fairly trivial even if it is a bit annoying). Overall quite an epic day. The approach is long but relatively easy. The Narrows at the end are great fun. The canyon is solid with a good level of intrigue for moderate groups.
4 Jul 2023	Amazing	Deep pools	Thin wetsuit	Special challenges	15 hours	5 people Beginner to Advanced	Darhawk (1 reports)
Comment: Really beautiful canyon. No raps or downclimbs were particularly tricky. All quite straightforward. Someone put in new anchors everywhere the week before we went, according to the backcountry ranger. We experienced excellent anchors everywhere, for sure. Rap 6, which Bluugnome says is problematic due to lack of material, is ingeniously anchored on a rock about half-way down the second stage of Rap 5. Three pieces of advice: 1-Wear pants. The bushwacking, while perhaps not bad for a seldom-done canyon, is still pretty intense. Legs below shorts are VERY cut up. 2-Wetsuit was not essential but helpful even on a 100-degree day with the deeper pools in multiple places and a long walk out. 3-(definitely not objective) The hike in the Narrows is pleasant if that is the objective. If you've been on an adventure for 10 hours and want to be done and make it to the last shuttle, the Narrows are fiendish ghouls waiting for you to stumble so they can suck out your life. The first 3-4 miles before you get to Orderville have very little by way of side sandbars/rockbars, etc. It is a long slog. I move slowly in the Narrows and it took me 5 hours from the location where Checkerboard joins to the Temple shuttle stop. To give perspective, it took 4 hours from the car to the first rappel.
22 Jul 2016 Trip report		Deep pools	None				CanyonCollective.com (83 reports)
Comment: Most recent conditions reported at CanyonCollective.com, see Trip Report for full details.